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Author: James Goldberg

Please help us spread the word about a writing contest for Mormon writers from any country and working in any language!

Over the past seven years, the Mormon Lit Blitz contest has helped connect Mormon readers and writers by featuring pieces short enough to read on a bus ride or at the end of a lunch break. During that time, we’ve published short stories set in Brazil, India, Mexico, Germany, and Spain as well as the United States.

Our readers want more. A group of donors have funded a contest to feature short stories with Mormon characters set in different places around the world, with a few stories to be published for each continent. For this contest, we’ll accept stories up to 2,000 words in length written in any language. There will be a $100 prize for the audience’s favorite story and a second $100 prize to recognize the top story originally written in a language other than English.

The deadline for the contest is December 31, 2018. Authors may submit up to three short stories to the contest. Please email stories to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com. Authors should include their name, contact information, the title of each story, and the country in which the story is set, in the body of the email.

For this contest to succeed, we need your help to share this call with Mormon writers around the world. Submissions in any language are acceptable: the Call for Submissions is currently available in Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese, and German as well as English.

Frequently asked questions:

What language will the finalists be published in?

The stories chosen as finalists will be published both in their original language and in English. If they wish, writers may submit their own translations of their story, or permit our volunteer judges and translators to evaluate and translate their story.

Do I need to be from the country I write about?

No. Authors can write about any country but should be familiar through experience and/or study with the country they depict. We encourage writers, whenever possible, to share drafts with someone native to any country they write about.

Can I submit my story if it is longer than 2,000 words?

No. Stories need to be edited down under 2,000 words to qualify for the contest.

Are there any restrictions on submissions in terms of genre?

No. Stories can have elements of romance, mystery, science fiction, fantasy, or any other genre. They may take place at any time in the past, present, or future. The only restrictions are that they need to feature a setting in a specific place on earth and depict Mormon experience in some way.

Are there any regions writers should avoid?

No. Because many Mormon short stories have been set in and around Utah, the finalist slots for North America will likely go to stories set in other North American countries or elsewhere in the United States, but a surprising and engaging story from Utah could still capture judges’ attention. We also expect to favor stories of Mormons who live in a given country, as native residents or immigrants, over stories centered on missionaries, but could be surprised by a missionary story that really allows its setting to shine.

As always, we owe thanks to all the writers who submitted to this year’s Mormon Lit Blitz and to the many readers who read the finalists, shared them on social media, and cast votes in the contest. This year, we also want to thank the core group of supporters who have pledged a monthly contribution to the Mormon Lit Lab Patreon account: we’ve almost reached the funding goal to add a second contest this fall!

To wrap up this contest, we’ve counted votes and after a historically tight race the top four stories are:

To celebrate the 7th anniversary of the Mormon Lit Blitz, we decided to fund an additional $100 “Judge’s Choice” award, with a winner selected by Kylie Turley, a scholar of Mormon Literary history and a longtime teacher of Mormon Literature classes at Brigham Young University’s Provo campus. Turley’s award selection and citation follows:

In a set of Mormon Literary Blitz finalists, William Morris’s “Proof that Sister Greeley Is a Witch” stands out. Though all of the finalists developed their works from compelling and dramatic ideas; and some had especially unique diction and used powerfully vivid imagery (“Beneath the Visiting Moon”); while others developed intriguing plots that grabbed the readers’ attentions (“Counsel” and “Scrubbing Jesus’ Toilets”) or closed powerfully (“Joseph and Emma Grow Old Together”) or moved through interesting plot twists (“After the Fast”); and yet still others conveyed powerful emotion in a non-sentimental way (“The Last Swing”), Morris was able to do all of those things in his short 10-step list while creating a strong sense of character within an LDS context.

Morris developed his idea in a creative manner: his use of a sort of “top 10” list incorporates both humor and serious moments, uses imagery and sensory description to not only tell a story, but also to develop his character. For example, Heidi’s sense of comedic timing is matched by her clever turn of phrase and wise insights. After listing gradually lengthening numbered reasons why Sister Greeley is strange, Heidi suddenly announces in reason number eight that “Sister Greeley has a wart on the side of her nose.” Heidi claims that she should have told the reader this important detail earlier, “but it seemed rude to point it out right away.” The length of the reason matches the lengths of the first two reasons, which not only supports Heidi’s argument, but also provides an abrupt and pert contrast to the lengthy run-on sentence in reason number seven. By writing in this manner, Morris masterfully reveals Heidi through her diction and thought processes, even as Heidi is revealing Sister Greeley through her astute observations and glib commentary. Despite the brevity required by the contest, readers finish the list understanding Sister Greeley and Heidi. Sister Greeley, from Heidi’s perspective, is a “witch”—but readers understand Heidi well enough by the last sentence to know that this bright and feisty young Mormon girl may not always be saying exactly what she means. Heidi tells us that “she didn’t know exactly what [Sister Greeley] meant” when she insists that Heidi—like her mother–is “one of these sisters” and demands that Heidi promise that she “won’t let them drive [her] away” from the church. Heidi says she doesn’t understand, but she concludes reason number ten with a series of shrewd contradictory statements that let readers know she understands exactly what is going on: Heidi tells readers that she is now sure that Sister Greeley is a “Mormon witch,” even though “Mormons don’t believe in witches” and she, Heidi, just promised Sister Greeley to remain in the church and to be “one of those sisters”—thus promising to be a “Mormon witch” herself. William Morris’s “Proof That Sister Greeley Is a Witch (Even Though Mormons Don’t Believe in Witches)” is well worth the few minutes it takes to read it. And who knows? Readers may discover a few LDS witches in their own wards now that they have read Heidi’s observations. Hopefully Morris will provide Heidi’s next list, so readers know what to do with the Sister Greeleys of the world—but, if he does not, I’d suggest Heidi’s approach: Brigham tea and a nice chat (reason #10).

One more thing: if readers run out of things to chat about with their Sister Greeley, I’d recommend reading and discussing “Joseph and Emma Grow Old Together” and “Beneath the Visiting Moon.” If they have a bit more time, they could include “Counsel” and “After the Fast” or “The Last Swing” and “Scrubbing Jesus’ Toilets” and “Missionary Weekly Report for 28 March – 3 April, Mumbai 1st Branch, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”—although the reader and his or her Sister Greeley might find that the best idea is to read all the finalists and set up a weekly discussion about LDS authors and LDS writing.

It’s that time of year again–just a week left to choose the winner of the Mormon Lit Blitz!

Voting Instructions

As per tradition, the audience chooses our annual Mormon Lit Blitz winner. To vote, look through the pieces, choose your favorite four, and email their titles (rather than author to avoid confusion) in ranked order to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com.

Voting is open from Monday, June 11th until the end of the day on Saturday, June 16th. The winner of the $100 Grand Prize will be announced on Monday, June 18th. For the first time, an additional $100 Judge’s Choice Award will be announced that same day.

Again: in order to be counted, votes must contain a ranking of the reader’s four favorite pieces, listed by title or keyword from title, and must be emailed to everydaymormonwriter@gmail.com by the end of the day Saturday, June 16th. Voters should have at least skimmed all twelve pieces. We also welcome comments and feedback on the contest in vote emails.

Our Exciting News

We have loved this year’s contest. Every year, it’s a little hard to say goodbye as the contest draws to a close: this year, it’s been doubly so because the author Q&As left us so impressed with the people devoting their creative energy to Mormon Lit–and excited about the possibilities they envisioned.So we’ve decided not to say the same year-long goodbye we typically do. After careful consideration, we’ve decided to start a new organization called the Mormon Lit Lab. The idea is to bring a core of Mormon Lit enthusiasts together to enroll as regular supporters of a Patreon fundraising page and then use our shared literary war chest for more contests, events, publications, and so on.

If you’re interested in seeing more contests like the Four Centuries of Mormon Stories or the Meeting of the Myths Contest, in attending a Writers’ Retreat like our 2013 event in Heber, Utah, in seeing an anthology of past Mormon Lit finalists and selected semi-finalists, or generally helping to advance the cause of Mormon Literature along the lines of this contest, we hope you’ll give the Patreon page a look and consider contributing.

Our key indicators for the week are 30 new investigators, 55 member-present lessons, 6 investigators who attended sacrament meeting, 1 investigator with a baptismal date. Zion Emmanuel is progressing but says he couldn’t afford the bus fare to make it to the chapel this week. I have asked Brother Dilip to pick him up next Sunday.

As you already know, our proselyting efforts this week were complicated by Elder Dnyaneshwar’s abrupt departure by train in the middle of the night on Thursday. I awoke to see his bed empty and his desk and cupboard cleared, and soon received a text message alerting me that he had arrived safely home to Visakhapatnam, and that I should not try to convince him to return.

I am sure you are wondering what led to this sudden action, and I have been wondering the same over these past four days. Of course, I should have noticed the signs. He had been even more homesick than usual for the past month, frequently mentioning his mother’s cooking and memories of his college friends. The work has been difficult here for so long, and the branch had been frustrated with him ever since his outburst at the member missionary fireside. With the upcoming election, he has been easily distracted by talk of politics. And any of his former companions will tell you that he could be moody and argumentative.

But I thought things were changing. We have redoubled our efforts, and you know that it is only due to Elder Dnyaneshwar’s persistence that I considered tracting in Bharatiya Colony, where we have had most of our recent success. I am ashamed to admit that I was fearful of the crowds of beggars by the rail station there, and I did not think anyone in the mud-spattered shanties under the elevated highway would be interested in our message.

It was Elder Dnyaneshwar who reminded me that the Savior himself had nowhere to lay his head, and that he was followed by crowds of people who yearned for daily bread as well as the bread of life. And with Rajbabu and Shanti, Isaac Sion and Ammamma, I saw how mistaken I had been. They have been filled with joy since the first day we shared the Plan of Salvation with Shanti at the auto stand. Shekar, Jhansi and their sons have pasted a picture of the Temple on the crossbar above their door and have begun collecting rupees in a jar with the hope of going as a family someday. And ever since Elder Dnyaneshwar challenged Naveen to prepare for a mission, he has been spending almost the full day with us, though he is still frustrated we will not let him take us to our appointments by motorbike.

So it came as a surprise when I awoke to an empty apartment after a day in which we had 16 member-present lessons to eager families and youth throughout the shanty-town, led by Naveen and Shekar’s 6-year old, Prakash. I had thought Elder Dnyaneshwar was relaxed and joking because he was finally starting to be comfortable here, not because he had decided to leave.

Some of the elders in the Zone will no doubt say he was always disobedient and rebellious, insisting on teaching in his own way and ignoring the counsel of his leaders. And given how he replied to the branch president’s suggestion that we were running faster than we had strength by teaching so many, or by teaching in the Colony at all, I understand why they think so. He was certainly a strong-willed missionary.

But perhaps it was simply that he saw what we could not. In a nation of 1.3 billion people, struggling in poverty, and unaware of their divine birthright, he knew the urgency of our call. We serve in a city of 21 million, 12 million of whom do not know where their next meal is coming from, in a branch of 300 members of record, 76 of whom attended sacrament meeting the week we arrived. If we alone carry the everlasting gospel and true hope of salvation, the balm for all the world’s ills, what are our efforts here but a drop in this ocean of suffering and need? The savior said the harvest was great and the laborers few, but if we truly recognized how great a burden lay upon us in this land, how could any of us stand?

You never used to sleep this late,
motes of sun dancing above your
face. The years pull your eyes
toward your pillow. Your smile
has become permanent, even in sleep.
I like to trace the lines, each a testament
of God’s surprises, less frequent now.
Now, God gives you time to stand out
by the fence and watch
the few dozen members of your
obscure order plow and seed and reap.
He seems to have little to say.
He has become a nodding God,
satisfied with another harvest. But
are you satisfied? Ten thousand acres
outside Palmyra is more than your father
dreamed of; and as your children’s children
and your nephews’ children and the children
of Knights and Whitmers are born and marry
and work the land, as our Joseph
sits in the Assembly: we know the Lord
has kept his word and made us safe
as I had asked you to ask him to promise us
(once, twice, three times), but you—
you still miss (will always miss) the running
danger of our youth, our near escapes and
passionate celebration. But your
God gave us this corner and gifted us
with happiness and, Oh! Joseph!, as I run
my fingers across your every line,
I see the paths we’ve taken, while
you, in quiet moments, you, in the dark of night,
you, I know, see paths we did not take, paths
God held back—for himself?—for
another?—for ever?